


Great Love And Small Disasters

by UniverseOnHerShoulders



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Humor, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29610816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniverseOnHerShoulders/pseuds/UniverseOnHerShoulders
Summary: A collection of short Torchwood drabbles based on prompts I've received on Tumblr.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Owen Harper & Ianto Jones & Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's always aliens. Because of course it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _Tosh and Jack decide to get ice cream after coming back from an undercover job, only to find the ice cream van is hiding aliens._

“Why,” Tosh complained, looking down at the dripping remains of what had, until five minutes prior, been her Mr Whippy ice cream with strawberry sauce, but now resembled a pink puddle of goo in a tub. “Does everything always have to be aliens with us?”

“Did you miss the memo? It’s kind of in the job description,” Jack quipped, shaking melted ice cream off his hands with disdain and then seizing a handful of paper napkins from the now-abandoned ice cream van’s counter and mopping ineffectually at the large white-and-blue streak down the side of his coat. “Do you reckon this’ll come out?”

“It’s dairy product and sugar, Jack, it’s hardly indelible.”

“Well, that’s something,” Jack sucked at a drip of sauce on his thumb, then groaned as he pulled out his gun and examined the grip, which was also smeared with electric-blue bubblegum sauce. “It’s all over my weapon - and I do mean literally, for once. I mean, there was this gun in a bar on Neptune who... never mind. Do you think Ianto can...”

“I think there’s very little Ianto can’t do,” Tosh muttered sourly. “This never happens when I go for ice cream with him, you know. Or Gwen. Or Owen. Just you.”

“Well, I guess I’m just lucky.”

“Or unlucky,” she raised her eyebrows. “You owe me another ice cream. Do you want to sort that out now, or shall I add it to the list? Because the list is now so long that I don’t think I’m going to need to go grocery shopping for at least three weeks if I pull in all those favours at once. Possibly four, if Ianto pulls in the apology pizzas as well.”

“I wasn’t aware you were keeping count.”

“Count?” Tosh raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got an itemised spreadsheet. Colour coded.”

“Of course you have,” Jack said with a groan. “Of course you have. Well in that case, Nando’s?”

“Nando’s sounds excellent. Can we check the waiter isn’t an alien before we order?”

“How do you want me to check?” Jack asked with a smirk, and Tosh let out a long breath. “OK, OK, sorry. Nando’s. No aliens. Got it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tosh tries to ask after Owen's wellbeing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“Have you been taking care of yourself?” Towen._

“You look peaky,” Tosh noted, leaning back in her seat at the meeting table and sneaking a glance at Owen over the top of her pizza box. He was shovelling a Meat Feast down at a rate of knots, only pausing to take large gulps of beer or check his phone. “Pale.”

“Thanks, Tosh,” Owen said drily, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “Always know how to make a bloke feel great about himself.”

“I didn’t...” she flushed at once, shoving a slice of pizza into her mouth and chewing furiously to hide her embarrassment. “I just...”

“It’s bloody dark down here,” Owen noted. “No wonder I look peaky... spend any more time at work and I’m going to end up with whiskers and pink eyes, like a mole.”

“You need to look after yourself,” Tosh mumbled. “Have you been taking care of yourself?”

“Seems a very personal question,” Owen raised his eyebrows, smirking as he did so, and Tosh’s blush intensified. “I always take care of myself, Tosh... two to three times a day, sometimes four, if I’m pushing the boat out. Perhaps less, actually, if I’ve got a lovely someone to do it for me. You offering?”

“No!” Tosh said at once. “No, I just... I just meant...”

Owen laughed, cracking open another beer and shaking his head fondly. “You really are easy to wind up, Tosh, you know that? It’s one of the things I like about you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen isn't convinced about this 'romance' lark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“What happened to their happily ever after?” “Not all love stories get a happily ever after, sometimes it’s just once upon a time." Towen._

“What happened, do you think?” Tosh asked sadly, looking at the CCTV feed of the bedraggled-looking bride in a bloodstained wedding dress who was sat dejectedly on the floor of one of their cells. “I thought weddings were about happily ever afters.”

“Yeah, well, not all love stories have a happily ever after,” Owen noted in a blunt tone. “Some of them are just... once upon a time. Take me, for instance. I fall in love at the start of every night, and I fall out of love again the morning after. Boom. Saves time. Saves spending twenty-five grand on a wedding that gets rudely interrupted by a Matroxian Brain Parasite. Still. We solved the problem.”

“We shot her groom in the head,” Tosh said flatly. “That slightly ruined her day, I think.”

“It’s a good thing we’ve got retcon, isn’t it? Or the bloody compensation costs would be off the scale.”

“I think we owe her compensation, Owen. She’s now got an alien larva burrowing into her brain.”

“Well, I’m sure Jack can make an anonymous donation,” Owen rolled his eyes, shuffling papers together on his desk and leaning back in his chair with an impatient sigh. “And then she can get investigated for potential bank fraud.”

“Where’s your sense of romance?”

“It died, Tosh. Along with my sense of eternal optimism, joy, and wonder. Blame the job.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen muses on what could never be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“How was I such an idiot, to believe that you, out of all people, could ever love me?” Towen._

“How am I such an idiot?” Owen asked softly, looking across the office at Tosh’s prone form. She was hunched over her desk, sound asleep on her computer keyboard, and she looked oddly vulnerable; her glasses were propped atop her head and her mouth was slightly open as she breathed slowly and steadily, exhausted after the day’s events.

Owen looked down at the bruise blossoming across his left shoulder, wincing as he rolled the joint and then looking back up at Tosh, his chest aching. “How could I convince myself that you, out of everyone in the whole great wide world, could ever love me? Me!” he snorted to himself at the mere idea, shaking his head in disbelief. “You deserve better than that. Infinitely better than a miserable bastard of a doctor; washed up and past it and utterly misanthropic.”

Tosh shifted slightly in her sleep, and Owen held his breath for a fraction of a second before continuing:

“No, Tosh. You should... you should be happy. Even if that means keeping this entirely to myself... except when you’re asleep.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen loses an argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“You’re an idiot.” “But you love me.” Gwen/Rhys._

“Have I ever told you,” Rhys began, winding the remaining sections of the bandage around and around Gwen’s arm as she sat stoic and still, not so much as wincing. “That you’re an idiot?”

“On many, many occasions,” Gwen informed him solemnly, cocking her head to one side and admiring his handiwork, which wasn’t too terrible considering he hadn’t done any first aid training since the Scouts. “But probably not as often as I tell you the same.”

Rhys chuckled as he tied the ends into a haphazard bow, before tucking it beneath the layers and layers of fabric and gently smoothing it down. “How’s that? Not bad for someone with no medical training, I don’t reckon.”

“Florence Nightingale herself couldn’t have done it any better.”

“Alright, alright,” Rhys chuckled, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet and rinsed his hands under the kitchen tap. “What can I say? I’m a lover, not a doctor. I still think you’re an idiot. In an argument with a vacuum cleaner, who did you think was going to win?”

“I did not have an argument with the vacuum cleaner,” Gwen pointed out. “I had an argument with the dustbins while emptying the vacuum cleaner. Big difference. Whole world of difference.”

“If you say so.”

“I very much do.”

“What the neighbours must think, I don’t know... you shouting away and bleeding everywhere,” Rhys shook his head in fond exasperation. “Right old state. You’re definitely an idiot.”

“But you love me.”

“That I do,” Rhys concurred with an easy smile. “That I do.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack reassures Ianto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“I don’t want to feel this. I want to be numb again.” Jack/Ianto._

“I’m sorry,” Ianto mumbled, turning his head away from Jack and biting down on his lower lip. He could feel tears threatening to well up and spill down his cheeks, and the last thing he wanted was for Jack to think he was weak, to think that he couldn’t hack it, or to think that he needed time off work. He needed to be here, making himself useful and pulling his weight and proving to the team that he was a valuable part of Torchwood Three, especially after... well, all that had happened. He needed to keep himself busy; needed to keep his mind off the nightmares that plagued him each time he lay down and tried to sleep, and the agonising panic attacks that could be triggered by the most innocuous of things. Like this; like now; like Jack’s hands on his waist, gentle and unassuming, and yet somehow... too much. “I’m sorry, I...”

“Don’t apologise,” Jack said at once, his usual bluster and arrogance evaporating in an instant as he looked at Ianto with concern, his gaze totally absent of condescension or patronisation. That made the moment slightly easier; there was no pity in his boss’s expression, no disdain, no judgement; instead, there was only overt compassion, and Jack took his hands away from Ianto’s body at once, holding them up for a second before putting them back in his pockets. “There. It’s OK. Sorry, was that too much?”

“No, it was...” Ianto fumbled around for a word more eloquent than ‘nice’, came up empty, and gave in. “Nice. It’s just... just...”

“A lot?”

“A lot,” Ianto mumbled. “It’s all still... it’s new... and you’re... you’re...”

“I’m your boss,” Jack noted, and there was no mischief in his tone, no teasing or good-natured humour, or anger. His voice was carefully neutral, and Ianto nodded once, jerkily and succinctly, half grateful for and half afraid of this newly serious Jack. “And I know this can be overwhelming. Not just that I’m your boss, but... you know. Being with someone can be intense, especially after...”

The image of Lisa seemed to hang in the air between them for an instant, like a bubble, then dissolved into nothingness, and Ianto hung his head as a single tear slipped from his eye, bisecting his cheek and splashing onto the collar of his shirt.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, unsure how to explain himself. “I just... it scares me. It all scares me. Feeling this... I want it and I don’t want it, because I feel like I should be grieving still, and yet I’ve already grieved for her once, so it’s like I don’t know what to do or think or say or feel. She was already sort-of gone, but now she’s really gone, and I like you - I mean, you know I like you, but I like-like you, and oh god, I sound like a bloody schoolboy, don’t I?”

To Jack’s credit, he didn’t rise to the bait, only nodded once sagely and waited for Ianto to continue.

“I like you a lot, and I want to like you, but I also don’t want to like you. I don’t want to feel like this, because it’s so intense that it scares me and it feels like a betrayal, but it also feels like a betrayal to not move on and be happy again, and... oh god, it’s all too bloody much. I don’t want to feel this, I want to be numb again. And yet I know I can’t spend my life like that.”

“I understand,” Jack said quietly, and before Ianto could ask how he could possibly claim to, he caught sight of the haunted look in his boss’s eyes and realised that of course Jack could understand this feeling; he must have experienced it hundreds of times. Somehow, that both reassured and chagrined Ianto; it was comforting to know that a person could survive this, and yet he hated the thought of those who’d come before him. “And I promise you, it gets better. But until then, we can do things slowly. There’s no rush. OK? No rush at all.”

Ianto nodded, and let Jack take him by the hand, his boss pressing his lips to the knuckles with a reassuring smile, and Ianto let out a long breath. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen needs Tosh to lie to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“Lie to me. I don’t care what you say, just lie to me. Make me feel okay again.” Owen/Tosh._

Owen took a long swig of his beer, the fifth of the evening, then rested his forehead against the top of the bottle, closing his eyes and feeling a drop of condensation slip down the neck and onto his nose. He was drunk, but he wasn’t drunk enough by far; the sting of the day’s events was still sharp in his chest, and it seemed to hurt when he inhaled and exhaled. Shock, betrayal and grief swirled through him, and he eyed up the remaining bottles of beer sat on his desk, wondering whether they would be enough to deaden his emotions, or whether it might take something more substantial.

“Lie to me,” he said aloud, the words taking him by surprise.

“What?” Tosh asked from the next desk, her voice small and tight, and he realised belatedly that she’d been crying. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t care what you say, just lie to me,” he continued, then thought for a second and added: “Please.”

“About what?” Tosh sniffed wetly, and he did her the courtesy of pretending not to notice. “I don’t...”

“Just...” he sighed heavily. “Lie to me about this. Make me feel OK again.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” Tosh admitted tremulously. “Suzie... I never thought...”

“None of us ever thought she’d be capable of that,” Owen knocked back the rest of his beer in several long pulls, then burped. “Scuse me. I just... I need to feel alright again.”

“Cheap beer isn’t going to help you feel alright again. Nor is me lying to you.”

“No,” Owen acquiesced, cracking open another bottle. “But it’s a bloody good start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tosh isn't used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“I didn’t know where else to go.” Jack & Tosh._

“Sorry,” Tosh said for the tenth time in five minutes, her voice still shaking, and she reached for the mug of hot, sweet tea that had been set down before her, picking it up with unsteady hands and taking a long sip. The cup rattled against the tabletop as she set it back down, and she prayed that her companion wouldn’t notice, or would do her the credit of pretending not to. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You don’t have to apologise, Tosh,” Jack assured her, eyeing her with a level of concern which would usually feel stifling or patronising, but now was just in imminent danger of reducing her to tears. “You’ve had one hell of a shock, and you needed someone to talk to, and a place to feel safe. As your boss, it’s my job to listen to you, and provide that safe place. As your friend... even more so.”

Tosh smiled fleetingly at him, unable to banish the image of her ransacked flat from her mind’s eye. “Thank you,” she breathed, and then to her considerable embarrassment, she began to cry. “Oh, hell...”

“Don’t be sorry,” Jack said at once, fumbling through his pockets and then passing her a clean handkerchief that was folded and pressed into an immaculate square. “Here. It’s clean, I promise.”

“Thanks,” Tosh mumbled in a small voice, mopping at her eyes with one hand and wrapping the other around her mug, as though the heat leaching through the cheap china might assuage her shock. “Sorry. I just... sorry...”

“Don’t be,” Jack told her patiently. “And please, take all the time you need. You can stay as long as you like.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto asks Jack an important question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“Are you afraid to die?” Jack/Ianto._

“Are you afraid to die?” Ianto asked out of the blue. Jack was laying in his arms, both of them half asleep, and Ianto’s left hand was trailing lazy patterns across his boss’s back, feeling the muscles there unknot and slowly relax after their earlier exertions under his gentle ministrations. “I mean... I know that you can’t, but do you ever think about... what you might do if you could die again? How it would feel?”

For a long moment, Jack was silent, and Ianto wondered whether he might have crossed some kind of line, whether he might have asked something impolite, or whether Jack had merely drifted into sleep.

When his boss spoke, the words ghosted across Ianto’s chest, making him shiver. “Sometimes I think about it,” Jack admitted. “Sometimes I worry about it... I think about what it would feel like to be mortal again. It’s strange, because in some ways I want it, but in other ways... I feel like I’ve got so much living left to do; far more than can be crammed into a regular lifespan. But then I wonder what it must be like for people like you or the team; people who only have one chance at living, and how you choose to spend your time. Isn’t the pressure of it stifling? How do you make decisions?”

“Most people are just guessing,” Ianto explained. “God knows, I am. It’s about making the least-bad choice at any given time, I think. And sometimes it’s about doing nothing.”

“But isn’t that...” Jack hesitated for a moment, gesticulating vaguely with one hand. “Frustrating? Maddening? Feeling time slip away?”

“Way to provoke an existential crisis, Jack,” Ianto teased.

“Says the man who asked me about death!” Jack protested with a chuckle. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I was mortal. Some days I miss it, but I don’t think I remember it enough to miss it accurately, if that makes sense? I remember a very idealised notion of it. It’s been decades since I’ve yearned for it... seriously at least.”

“What changed?”

“You did,” Jack said at once. “I mean... the team. Torchwood. It was only ever supposed to be temporary, and yet it’s given me... something to be. Something that needs me. And you. It’s given me you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto knows Owen's secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt:
> 
> _“You’re a softie,” Owen & Ianto._

“You know,” Ianto said thoughtfully, knocking back the last of his coffee and looking across the conference table at Owen, who was juggling his laptop, a notepad, a phone and a tablet computer they’d nicked off a Berinian ship the week before, the latter two of which were displaying a missing persons website bearing a large photo of an auburn-haired teenage girl. Owen was muttering away to Tosh via his earpiece, and Ianto could see a satellite image on the screen of Owen’s laptop, upon which an animated green arrow noted the location of the missing person in question, and a blue arrow a short distance behind represented the pursuing Tosh. “You’re a total bullshitter, Owen Harper.”

“I beg your pardon?” Owen said, scowling at Ianto over the top of his laptop with considerable consternation. “No, not you Tosh - you keep following her.” He tapped the device in his ear to deactivate the microphone, then asked Ianto with confusion: “What are you talking about?”

“You give it all this about being a mighty, terrifying man who takes no crap and cares for no-one, and yet how long have you spent looking for Emily Davies?”

“A week,” Owen answered, somewhat unnecessarily; Ianto already knew, but it was satisfying to hear Owen say it. “Why?”

“Well, considering you don’t care about anyone or anything, you seem very bothered about a missing fifteen year old girl you’ve never met.”

“Her mother’s worried sick about her.”

“So?”

“She’s been possessed by a ghost. She could do or say anything to anyone.”

“So?”

“What would you do, Ianto?” Owen snapped, his temper fraying. “Tell the poor kid’s mum to go fuck herself? What exactly is your point?”

“My point,” Ianto said, his tone pitched perfectly between teasing and respectful as he smirked at his colleague. “Is that you’re a great big softie, and you know what? The Hub is all the better for it.”

Before Owen could respond, before he could even so much as process what had been said to him, Ianto got to his feet, leant over and patted his colleague on the shoulder, and assured him: “It’s alright, I won’t tell anyone.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to submit a request for a drabble, you can do so [here.](http://universe-on-her-shoulders.tumblr.com/ask)


End file.
